Dashboard with a Display Unit Description The invention relates to a dashboard of a vehicle. The vehicle has an air conditioner that can be run in a defrosting mode for defrosting a windshield of the vehicle by air conducted to the windshield. The dashboard has a head-up display. Vehicle dashboards with a head-up display are generally known in the state of the art. A head-up display usually comprises a projection screen to display information which is projected onto the screen. The projection screen often is transparent and arranged in the field of vision of a driver of the vehicle.

Furthermore a head-up display may be retracted into a cavity inside the vehicle dashboard when the head-up display is deactivated, and moved out of the cavity for being used.

Vehicle dashboards often also comprise at least one defrosting air outlet which, in particular in a defrosting mode of an air conditioner of the vehicle, is used to conduct air to a frosted or fogged vehicle windshield above the dashboard.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved vehicle dashboard having a head-up display and a defrosting air outlet and optimizing the conduction of air to a vehicle windshield. Furthermore it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of operating a vehicle comprising an air conditioner and a dashboard that has a defrosting air outlet for the air conditioner and a head-up display. The object is achieved by a dashboard according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 10. Preferred embodiments of the invention are given in the dependent claims.

According to the invention the object is solved by a dashboard of a vehicle, the vehicle having a windshield and an air conditioner that can be run in a defrosting mode for defrosting the windshield by air conducted to the windshield, and the dashboard comprising a defrosting air outlet for the air conditioner for conducting air to the windshield in the defrosting mode of the air conditioner and a head-up display which is automatically deactivatable when the defrosting mode of the air conditioner is activated or running.

The invention takes into account that, when the defrosting mode of the air conditioner is activated or running, a user of the vehicle, in particular a vehicle driver, usually has an obstructed view through the windshield because the windshield is frosted or fogged. As a consequence, the head-up display will not be useful for him. Furthermore the head-up display, when it is in its exposed position, may impede optimal defrosting of the windshield because usually it is positioned within the airflow emitted by the defrosting air outlet. Therefore, when the defrosting mode of the air conditioner is activated or running, an automatical deactivation of the head-up display allows for optimal windshield defrosting.

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention the head-up display comprises a projection screen onto which information is projected and which preferably is in the field of vision of a vehicle driver of the vehicle when the head-up display is activated. This allows to project information in the field of vision of the vehicle driver so that the driver does not need to turn the head to see the information and thus can keep track of the road and traffic ahead of the vehicle. Furthermore, the projection screen may be transparent. This advantageously prevents the screen from blocking part of the view through the windshield.

In a further exemplary embodiment of the invention the projection screen is moved into a predefined deactivation position when the head-up display is deactivated. In particular, in the deactivation position, the projection screen may be partially or fully retracted into an interior of the dashboard, or it may be flush with an outer dashboard surface surrounding the projection screen, or it may be pivoted by a predetermined pivot angle relative to an exposed position of the projection screen in the activated state of the head-up display. These embodiments of the invention advantageously allow to move the projection screen out of the airflow of air that is conducted to the windshield through the defrosting air outlet, and thus prevent that the projection screen impedes this airflow.

A vehicle according to the invention comprises a windshield, an air conditioner that can be run in a defrosting mode for defrosting the windshield by air conducted to the windshield, and a dashboard according to the invention, having the above mentioned advantages.

According to the invention, in a method of operating such a vehicle, the head- up display is automatically deactivated when the defrosting mode of the air conditioner is activated or running. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention a current operation mode of the air conditioner is detected using at least one sensor monitoring the air conditioner, and a deactivation signal is created and sent to the head-up display if the detected operation mode is the defrosting mode or an activation thereof. Furthermore, the head-up display may temporarily, for instance for a predefined time interval, be deactivated, or it may be deactivated until the defrosting mode of the air conditioner is deactivated and switched off. Brief Description of the Drawings

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus do not limit the present invention, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a perspective (partial) view of a vehicle with a dashboard having a defrosting air outlet and a head-up display in a first deactivation position,

Figure 2 shows a perspective (partial) view of a vehicle with a dashboard having a defrosting air outlet and a head-up display in an exposed position and in a second deactivation position, and

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of controlling a head-up display of a vehicle dashboard, depending on an operation mode of an air conditioner of the vehicle. Corresponding parts are marked with the same reference symbols in all figures.

Detailed Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 shows a perspective (partial) view of a vehicle interior of a vehicle 10. The vehicle 10 comprises a dashboard 1 , a windshield 2, and an air conditioner 3. The air conditioner 3 can be run in a defrosting mode E for defrosting the windshield 2 by air conducted to the windshield 2. The defrosting mode E may be activated manually, for instance by a vehicle driver of the vehicle 10, and/or automatically by automatic climate control.

The dashboard 1 is placed in front of the vehicle driver below the

windshield 2. The dashboard 1 has several air outlets 1.1 for air conditioning of the vehicle interior. In addition the dashboard 1 has at least one defrosting air outlet 1.2 for the air conditioner 3. The defrosting air outlet 1.2 is placed close to the windshield 2 and, in the defrosting mode E of the air

conditioner 3, conducts air to the windshield 2 in order to remove icing or fogging of the windshield 2.

Furthermore the dashboard 1 has a head-up display 4. The head-up display 4 comprises a projection screen 4.1 onto which information, such as information concerning the vehicle 10 and/or its surroundings, is projected by an imaging unit and possibly by an optics module which are not shown in the figures. The projection screen 4.1 is placed in the field of vision of the vehicle driver when the head-up display 4 is activated, and may be transparent.

When the head-up display 4 is activated, the projection screen 4.1 is in an exposed position II in which it stands at least almost upright off the

dashboard 1 in front the vehicle driver. When the defrosting mode E of the air conditioner 3 is activated or running, the head-up display 4 is automatically deactivated and the projection screen 4.1 is moved from the exposed position II into a predefined deactivation position I, III.

Figure 1 shows the projection screen 4.1 in a first deactivation position I in which the projection screen 4.1 is flush with an outer surface of the dashboard 1 surrounding the projection screen 4.1. Figure 2 shows the projection screen 4.1 in the exposed position II and additionally in an alternative second deactivation position III (shown dashed in figure 2) in which the projection screen 4.1 is pivoted by a predetermined pivot angle W relative to the exposed position II.

Alternatively to the two alternative deactivation positions I, III shown in figures 1 and 2, the projection screen 4.1 may be moved into a third deactivation position (not shown in the figures) in which it is partially or fully retracted into a cavity in an interior of the dashboard 1.

When the defrosting mode E of the air conditioner 3 is activated or running, the head-up display 4 may temporarily, in particular for a predefined time interval, be deactivated. Alternatively the head-up display 4 may be deactivated until the defrosting mode E of the air conditioner 3 is deactivated or switched off. If the projection screen 4.1 is already in a deactivation position I, III when the defrosting mode E of the air conditioner 3 is activated or running, the projection screen 4.1 may be kept in the deactivation position I, III.

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of controlling a head-up display 4 of the dashboard 1 depending on an operation mode B of the air conditioner 3 of the vehicle 10.

When operating the vehicle 10 the air conditioner 3 is monitored by sensors not shown in the figures. Sensor signals S of these sensors are sent to an air conditioner controller 5 which determines the current operation mode B of the air conditioner 3 on the basis of the sensor signals S.

One of the possible operation modes B is the activation or running of the defrosting mode E. If the air conditioner controller 5 detects that the defrosting mode E of the air conditioner 3 is activated or running, then the air conditioner controller 5 creates a deactivation signal D and sends it via a data transmission unit, for instance via a CAN bus (CAN = controller area network), to the head-up display 4, in particular to a controller unit of the head-up display 4.

5 Subsequently, on account of the deactivation signal D, the head-up display 4 is automatically deactivated as described above with reference to figures 1 and 2. The controller unit of the head-up display 4 creates a control signal P for the projection screen 4.1. Depending on the current position of the projection screen 4.1 the projection screen 4.1 either is kept in a deactivation l o position I, III or it is moved from the exposed position II into a deactivation position I, III.

List of references

1 dashboard

1.1 air outlet

1.2 defrosting air outlet

2 windshield

3 air conditioner

4 head-up display

4.1 projection screen

5 air conditioner controller

10 vehicle

B operation mode

E defrosting mode

D deactivation signal

P control signal

5 sensor signal

W pivot angle I first deactivation position II exposed position

III second deactivation position